Rohit Tokas (75kg) stunned Asian Championships silver medallist Ashish Kumar to enter the semifinals on the fifth day of the ongoing 4th Elite Men's National Boxing Championships here Tuesday.
Top boxers Sachin Siwach (57kg) and Shiva Thapa (63Kg) also comfortably sailed into the last four here.
Rohit from the Railways adopted a counter-attacking strategy against his taller opponent from Himachal. He succeeded in landing more punches to unsettle Ashish with a mix of close-range attack.
Rohit landed more clear punches in the third round to register an upset 4-1 win over Ashish.
"It is my first tournament in the new weight category and defeating a big player is a huge morale booster," said Rohit, who had won gold medal in the last edition.
"I worked a lot on my strength and did a lot of weight training in my preparation ahead of the National. I am glad that my counter-attacking strategy worked today. Hopefully, I will win the gold medal again."